


Cadence

by rosasynstylae



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Angst, F/M, Happy Ending, Marichat, Marinette Dupain-Cheng Has a Crush on Chat Noir, Miraculous Ladybug Love Square
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-25
Updated: 2018-02-25
Packaged: 2019-03-23 18:50:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,793
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13793982
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rosasynstylae/pseuds/rosasynstylae
Summary: Cadence, n. a modulation or inflection of the voice.Marinette and Adrien get it wrong, and wrong again, before finally getting it right.(Or, Marinette gets over Adrien only to fall for him again)





	Cadence

Adrien was fond of Marinette. She was cheerful, kind, and hard-working. She also happened to be the best friend of Nino’s girlfriend, so Adrien found himself hanging out with the girl often. Her shyness had kept Adrien at arm’s length, much to the boy’s chagrin. Alya’s easiness with his classmate perhaps wouldn’t raise so much jealousy in Adrien, if it weren’t for one thing.

Chat Noir adored Marinette. Her tongue was sharp and her wit biting; the girl’s tense nature barely ever peaked around corners when she was around the superhero. The calm with which Marinette could talk to Chat when put up against the stiffness when she was around Adrien… He often wondered if he was doing something wrong around her as Adrien. Maybe she just enjoyed Chat’s company more? Adrien couldn’t blame her - he preferred being Chat.

The railing of Marinette’s balcony had quickly become a familiar perch; the rooftop trail to her house well worn into Adrien’s brain. He ignored that the curiosity into Marinette’s differing behaviour was half-excuse. When she wasn’t wound so tight it might seem like she would snap, she was easy to get along with; it made Adrien want to dally and talk with her.

Perhaps the road to love would have been smoother had Chat Noir stayed away.

\----------

Marinette hadn’t known what to think, when a stray cat had started hanging around her balcony. The first occurrence of what quickly became a pattern had appeared to be a fluke; a bit of “luck” that Marinette had been staring out across Paris when Chat Noir had needed a person to talk to. Worry had bubbled up as the visits continued - had Chat Noir figured out her identity? If not… then why did he come around so often? Was there a threat to Marinette that Chat Noir hadn’t told Ladybug about?

By the fourth month, Marinette leaned into the routine; it was hard to stay suspicious for so long. Especially as Chat Noir was quickly climbing into the position of one of Marinette’s dearest friends. Albeit, a friend she could tell no one about.

“Not that Alya is wrong, but I mean… I can’t just go ask him!” Marinette leaned her back against the railing, tilting her head to look up at Chat. Alya encouraged Marinette to ask Adrien out almost every day, and while Marinette desperately wanted to… She couldn’t. Her words turned to mush in her mouth and her tongue tripped over syllables like a toddler learning to walk.

“Why not? That’s what I did with Ladybug.”

“That’s different. You can hold an entire conversation with Ladybug without stuttering or saying something dumb.”

“You can hold a conversation pretty well with me; just pretend that your mystery man is yours truly.”

“I take back what I said about you being able to have a conversation without saying anything dumb,” Marinette teased, pushing the closest of Chat’s legs. He laughed, gently pushing her back with his foot. Sometimes Marinette worried that she sounded too much like Ladybug when she talked to Chat like this; it was so easy to dip back into their teasing-flirty back and forth. If Chat ever picked up a resemblance, however, he said nothing. And lately, while Ladybug and Chat Noir’s relationship was better than ever, Chat had backed off of the flirting. Marinette was relieved, but worried about her partner. It was nice to see a bit of his attitude back, even if it wasn’t directed at Ladybug. Maybe even a bit nicer, since Marinette knew that Chat didn’t mean it. It was easier to joke around when there wasn’t an undercurrent of truth to it.

“I’m seriously in agreement with Alya, though. Just tell him! He’d be crazy to turn you down. You’re so cool you’re best friends with a superhero.”

“One, my best friend is Alya. Two, you know I can’t tell anyone that we’re friends; I’ve already had that long talk with Ladybug about how I’m in danger if I tell anyone.”

Chat’s sigh was on the side of dreamy. “Yeah, she’s so responsible like that.” Marinette was quiet for a long moment after that, thinking.

“How did you deal with it? When Ladybug told you she didn’t like you?” She finally asked, “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”

Chat hopped off the railing to sit next to Marinette. “She didn’t say she didn’t like me. She said that she had someone else her heart was set on. Ladybug actually told me we were friends, for the first time.” He paused, thinking, and Marinette examined his expression carefully. There was a twinge of guilt for asking Chat about this; after all, she had been the one to turn Chat down and her partner didn’t know it. It felt almost as if she was intruding on a private moment, one he should be having with a friend who had nothing to do with Ladybug.

“I’d be lying if I wasn’t disappointed,” Chat said finally, his voice soft, “But my lady’s friendship? That’s more precious to me than anything, and I wouldn’t do anything that put it in jeopardy. I don’t think you’re really in love with someone if you wouldn’t be happy with just being friends. I’m always going to be disappointed and kinda sad about it, but learning that Ladybug thought of us as friends? It made me feel like I was flying.”

Marinette flushed; Chat may not know that he was talking about Marinette, but she did. She couldn’t tell Chat like this that Ladybug deeply valued his friendship as well. Ladybug would just have to tell him that next patrol they had together. Without revealing that Ladybug had been in on this conversation. She had some time to plan that conversation, at least.

“That’s really sweet, Chat. I hope that I can feel that way…”

“He’s not going to turn you down Marinette.”

“How would you know? You don’t even know who it is.”

“Don’t need to; you’re great.”

“Oh, yeah? What if it was you?”

That made Chat pause, blanching a bit. He stared at her, trying to discern how serious she was being. Marinette burst into laughter.

Chat pouted. “Oh sure, laugh at my pain, Princess. Here I am, being a good friend and you just take advantage for your own amusement…” A smile broke across his face when he finished his melodrama and he gave Marinette a wink. “I’m serious though. I bet there’s no guys in your class that can resist your charms.”

“I think you are overestimating my charms.” She tilted her head back against the railing, watching a cloud lazily make it’s way over the city. Honestly, the longer she put off telling Adrien about her feelings, the harder everything became. They spent so much time together now, partially due to Alya’s scheming, partially due to the fact her best friend was dating Adrien’s best friend, partially because… Adrien had started asking to hang out with her. Marinette couldn’t keep tripping over herself around him. If she didn’t tell him soon, he was going to figure it out on his own. Marinette couldn’t explain why, but that scenario made chills run down her spine. “But I think you and Alya are right. I need to tell him. Soon. Or maybe I can run off to Germany and live out my life under a different name and never talk to him again.”

Chat put a hand on her shoulder. The claw tips of his gloves poked through her shirt, but not uncomfortably so; Marinette had only ever been on the painful side of his grip a handful of times, and none of them were Chat’s fault really. “Just tell him. I would miss you if you lived in Germany. Who would I get to give me sweets all the time?” His tone was light, but encouraging.

Marinette paused. If both Chat and Alya thought she should give it a go…

“Alright,” She conceded, “If only to keep my second favorite superhero awash in too-ugly-to-sell eclairs.”

\--------

Adrien only realized when it happened. He hadn’t realized during his visits as Chat. He hadn’t realized when Marinette stuttered over her words around him. He hadn’t realized when Marinette had asked to see him after school, alone. He hadn’t realized when Nino had patted him on the back and wished him luck.

“- If you don’t want to go out with me or whatever, I totally understand, I just thought you should know. You know? It’s important, for like, everything to be out in the open and-” Marinette babbled, what Adrien only now understood to be nervousness rolling off of her in waves.

He should have guessed. He should have known from the way Marinette never talked about him to Chat, despite the fact they spent so much time together with their friends. He should have realized.  
This was his fault. He was going to break Marinette’s heart after encouraging her to go for it. He just hadn’t even considered that Marinette would like him. Adrien had thought it was someone like Nathaniel, or… He didn’t know. Not himself. What guy in her class could resist Marinette’s charms? This guy.

“Marinette,” Adrien started, cutting off a monologue that was starting to spiral into nonsense. Marinette’s mouth close with an audible snap. He sighed and looked down at her shoes, shifting his weight from foot to foot uncomfortably. “I’m sorry, Marinette, but… There’s someone else.” While strictly speaking, he and Ladybug were not together, Adrien knew it would be unfair for him to date Marinette while his heart belonged to his lady.

“I- of course. Of course! I mean, I wasn’t really expecting you to like me-”

Adrien’s head shot up. He was not going to let her start down that road if he could help it. He took a step towards her, putting his hand on her shoulder. “Of course I like you Marinette; we’re friends! I just can’t…” Adrien sighed a little, his hand tightening on Marinette’s shoulder, “You’re a great person Marinette. I just can’t love you. I… hope we can stay friends?” Adrien finished lamely.

Marinette stared at him for a moment, before nodding. “Of course. Friends.” She gave him a weak smile. Adrien longed to know what she was thinking, but knew he couldn’t ask. At least, not as Adrien. He dropped his hand from her shoulder; she immediately took a step back. “I think I forgot- bakery- homework- got-to-go-home-sorry-about-all-of-this-bye!” Marinette babbled, before sprinting out of the park as quickly as she could. Adrien watched her twist around a corner, sighing.

She would need her friends. He’d text Alya, give her a heads up…

Marinette would need a visit from Chat. After all, it was his fault.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed this! There wasn't nearly as much of the trope "Chat Noir and Marinette end up heartbroken and then fall in love with each other" as I wanted, so I finally sat down and wrote some myself.
> 
> (Also, Chat Noir blanching? 100% a subtle pun, you're welcome.)


End file.
